Canada's Liberals pick Dion as leader in upset win
03 Dec 2006 02:20:25 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds quotes from Dion, government) By David Ljunggren MONTREAL, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Canada's opposition Liberals on Saturday unexpectedly chose former Environment Minister Stephane Dion as their new leader, overlooking his political shortcomings that could undermine the party in an election widely expected next year. Dion focused his campaign on the need to do more to protect the environment -- a topic that polls show is increasingly important to Canadians -- and the need to defeat Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper as soon as possible. "Stephen Harper, we are counting the days until the next election," he told cheering delegates at a leadership convention in Montreal after his surprise victory. Dion, 51, a former academic who was in fourth place at the start of the race, beat favorite and former Harvard academic Michael Ignatieff on the fourth and final ballot by 2,521 votes to 2,084. The Liberals dominated Canadian politics for the past century but lost power to the Conservatives in a January election amid voter fatigue with the government and a patronage scandal in French-speaking Quebec. The Conservatives have a minority government that looks set to fall in 2007, sparking a new election. Treasury Board Minister John Baird dismissed Dion's victory and accused of him doing nothing to stop the Quebec scandal that involved the misuse of funds designed to sponsor events. "He's one of those ... Cabinet ministers from Quebec who sat through the sponsorship scandal and claimed not to know a thing that went on while millions of dollars were stolen," he told reporters. The left-leaning opposition New Democrats issued a release saying Dion was "an out of touch academic who spent 10 years in a scandal-ridden cabinet." When asked what his surprise win showed, Dion replied, "Everything is possible in Canada, even the greatest dream." UNPOPULAR IN NATIVE QUEBEC Dion has two potential strikes against him. He speaks English with a heavy French accent, which could make it hard to win over voters in what is a predominantly English-speaking country. He is also unpopular in his home province of Quebec, which accounts for a quarter of the seats in the federal Parliament. French-speaking separatists strongly dislike him for his efforts to make it harder for them to hold a successful referendum on whether Quebec should break away from the rest of Canada. Separatist Quebec governments lost two previous referendums on the issue. An Ipsos-Reid opinion poll published on Friday said that if Dion won the leadership, the Liberals would win 27 percent support if a federal election were held now, compared with 35 percent for the Conservatives. Since Canada became a country in 1867, only one Liberal leader has failed to become prime minister. Dion succeeds interim leader Bill Graham, who took over when former Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin quit after the January election defeat. Dion was the only one of the four front-runners to have any experience in a federal Cabinet. He served in the previous two Liberal governments. Ignatieff's fate was sealed when former Ontario Premier Bob Rae -- who was eliminated after the penultimate ballot -- told supporters they could decide who to back. Ignatieff came into the convention as the clear leader in the most open Liberal leadership race since the 1968 contest that brought Pierre Trudeau to power. Although he had the support of many Liberal legislators, rivals accused him of backing the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush -- an unpopular figure in Canada. Ignatieff had been a polarizing figure since he returned to Canada after almost 30 years abroad and entered the race. Opponents cited his initial support for the war in Iraq and remarks he made that appeared to back the use of torture.
